Senior citizens are often especially vulnerable to fraudulent schemes. Fraudulent telemarketers prey on elderly citizens living alone and fearful of not having sufficient funds for their remaining years. The friendship and compassion that these telemarketers appear to offer can lead to the loss of thousands of dollars of life savings from those who need their savings for a comfortable retirement. Con artists not only rob their victims of their money but also their pride.
Last year, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service responded to 66,000 mail fraud complaints, arrested nearly 1,700 mail fraud offenders, and secured nearly 1,500 convictions. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the National Association of Attorneys General, and the Federal Trade Commission have estimated that 85 percent of the victims of telemarketing fraud are age 65 or older. During hearings of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that I chaired on Internet and telemarketing fraud, several elderly witnesses testified about how they had been defrauded of thousands of dollars and the resulting hardships caused by the loss of their life savings.
One southern Maine woman testified that her 80 year-old husband, formerly a successful businessman, had fallen prey to devious telemarketers and clever mail solicitations. She estimated that he lost $20,000 to these schemes, and described how devastating these losses had been to their family.
The telemarketing fraud industry is a highly mobile, sophisticated racket that very often involves "boiler rooms" in which hundreds of people make high pressure calls, sometimes 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Some unscrupulous telemarketers select their elderly victims by using lists to target those who have recently placed a spouse in a nursing home. Thus, the friendship and compassion these telemarketers pretend to offer come when the elderly are particularly vulnerable to such enticements.
How do we fight such fraud? The first line of defense against mail, Internet and telemarketing fraud is to promote public awareness of the dangers of such crimes, the types of schemes in which criminals are likely to engage, and what consumers can do to report fraudulent overtures and help law enforcement officials catch up with the con artists.
National Fraud Against Senior Citizens Week is designed to do just that. During the week of August 25, 2002, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, together with the Senior Action Coalition, a grassroots multi-agency organization based in Pittsburgh, will launch a national multi-media fraud prevention campaign. The campaign will be kicked off with events in Maine, Washington D.C., and elsewhere.
The campaign will include radio and television public service announcements by national spokesperson Betty White. On Sunday, August 25, announcements in newspapers will run in the 13 states, including Maine, that recorded the most complaints of fraud by seniors. Poster displays highlighting the problem and what seniors and their caregivers can do to protect themselves and report fraud will be displayed in post office lobbies and other public areas, and mailers are planned to be sent to seniors. Designating this week as National Fraud Against Senior Citizens Awareness Week will help reach a wide segment of America's elderly and those who care for them with the time-honored advice of: "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true."